


Shining Knight

by talonyth



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-15
Updated: 2012-12-15
Packaged: 2018-01-04 15:26:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1082643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talonyth/pseuds/talonyth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some days, he couldn’t believe it himself - that he was a Keyblade Master now, and that Sora was not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shining Knight

Some days, he couldn’t believe it himself - that he was a Keyblade Master now, and that Sora was not.

He knew the reason very well, Master Yen Sid had told them why but he still couldn’t grasp it. He understood the meaning, but he was not able to process it. He couldn’t understand why him, of all people? And why not Sora?

He was so radiant, so brilliant, a shining knight that came saving everyone and Riku himself… he felt somewhat overshone, almost like just a shadow of Sora, trying to get to the surface to get some of his brilliance. 

"Are you overthinking things again, Riku?" a loud and bright voice said and interrupted all the thoughts he harbored.

Almost on a whim, it seemed, Sora sat down right next to Riku and wore a huge smile, one he always showed when he meant to cheer up people. Not that his very existence was already the best cheer-up one could wish for, he was surprisingly sensitive towards sadness. It was like he sensed immediately when someone didn’t feel well, something that was unexpected for someone as dense as he was.

Riku couldn’t help but smile at the boy’s intent, and figured that he already fell for the trap.

"Ha! I got you! See, I knew I could make you smile!"

"…Because you’re an idiot, that’s why."

"Does it even matter? You smiled and that shows me that you’re not thinking too hard! It’s that whenever you do that, you end up really sad and you shouldn’t be!"

"Isn’t it normal to be sad sometimes?"

"Yes it is! But you’re usually sad because of things that shouldn’t make you sad!", Sora replied, almost angry, and pinched Riku’s cheek.

"Like what?", Riku asked, half-laughing. He really wasn’t as dense anymore. Maybe he underestimated Sora.

"I don’t know…"

A short silence fell upon him before he started again. “No, I know! You don’t appreciate yourself enough! You should because you’re awesome! But… you don’t, somehow.”

"Sora… you know exactly why…"

"No, I don’t know!"

His voice was resounding on the walls and made it seem louder than it was. It startled Riku to hear him… upset?

"Listen, things have already passed, okay? You’re not the same as you used to be, look at you! You’re a Master now, you’ve grown so much! You are able to handle this situation, you won’t fall back to where you used to be. I know that much because I trust you. You’ve made mistakes but you’re good now, so don’t worry about it anymore… okay?"

There was nothing Riku could say or add. He could only stare at Sora and wonder… when did he become so perceptive? Sora had seemed to have grown a lot over the time, too. Only that he probably didn’t quite understand it yet.

Somehow it seemed almost frightening how exactly Sora had pinpointed Riku’s problems. It scared him. But why?

"It’s because of your mistakes that you are where you are now. And don’t you think it’s pretty awesome how you’ve fought off darkness twice and manage it now just fine? How you found your way back to light and now you can balance it out? I think that’s plenty cool!"

Sora sounded so convinced, so… determined. Didn’t he… understand?

"That’s all just thanks to you, though. You were the reason… for everything."

Suddenly, Riku felt like his own voice sounded very very alien to him, as if it hadn’t been his own. Things he never meant to say, although they were nothing but the truth, they just came out without any warning.

"I can’t believe how jealous I was of you. You were… so honest, such a bright guy, you were always happy, living with no worries and then I was there, a total downer. I tried anything to bring you out of your usual attitude, I wanted to see if you could have worries too, but… no matter how often I beat you in our little games, no matter how often I would mock you, you would still always, always consider me your friend. I was happy about it but I didn’t understand. How would you like someone like me? I had barely ever been nice to you, after all, although I guess it was just me trying to be… well, cool. I always wished I could have been more like you and… then all this came up and suddenly…"

For a moment, Riku stopped. What was he saying? No, he couldn’t continue. That had already been too much. Why, then? Why did he feel like he had to?

"Remember when we met the first time again, after we had all disappeared from Destiny Islands? In Traverse Town? Where you introduced me to Donald and Goofy? Ha… it’s so ridiculous but I felt so lonely at that time. I had finally found you, but you already had other friends with you. As much as I… wanted to… I couldn’t handle that situation at all. I couldn’t do it. I felt so pushed back, although that was not your intention but at that point I think, I had already been completely void of any kind of proper thought. It led me right into the darkness, without me realizing what a mistake that was. It should have been obvious, looking back at it."

He had to stop. He had to.

"Yet you never ceased to believe in me. Even when I told you to leave, to go, to just disappear, you didn’t. You did anything in order to save me, and you managed. In the end you rescued me from myself. I felt like I needed to repay you and since I had already been tainted, I was the only one who could deal with the darkness. I was prepared to live with it my whole life because I knew that even if I was like that, you would be there and believe in me. But it was more than that. You tried so desperately, a second time, to save me. To find me. Even though I had given up on myself, you never did. It was, again, thanks to you that I escaped a second time from the darkness. If not for you… I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t be what I am. You are the only reason."

This whole time, Sora sat silently there, he just listened, he never asked nor replied anything, he never interrupted Riku. And even after he was done, he said nothing at all. Weirdly enough, his smile had disappeared and he looked down at the ground. He wasn’t exactly avoiding Riku’s glance, or so he thought, it was more like he was trying to thoroughly phrase in his mind what he wanted to say aloud. Such an unusual sight.

"Does… it matter?"

"What?"

Riku was genuinely surprised about his reply. He had expected… anything but this.  
"I just mean, does it matter? That it was all ‘thanks to me’? It’s also thanks to you that I’m sitting here next to you. You were willing to give up yourself in order to save me. A second time, too. So what’s the deal? I don’t think that makes you less than me. You seem to think of me so highly, but… aren’t we the same? You’ve been looking for me too, you’ve saved me from the darkness too, you’ve done even more, you almost sacrificed yourself for me. That’s the reason you’re a Master now, remember? So what? Doesn’t that make you super awesome? Why do you still bring yourself down so much?"

"Because… you’re the one who deserves all of this… and not me…"

How? How did he, oh so lightly, say all those things like it was nothing? Why wasn’t he the least angry at him, or disappointed? How did he still trust him so much? It was true, that he, in retrospect, also did all those things for Sora, but it was all because he felt so terrible and guilty for all the things he did before. Maybe he wanted to show Sora what he had accomplished.

Sora just shook his head, and in a sudden movement, wrapped his arms around Riku’s neck, so tightly that it became almost difficult from him to breathe. Startled at first, Riku tensed up but the boy’s warmth and brilliance got him once more. Almost automatically, he drew Sora even closer to him and hoped he wouldn’t let go. He hoped he would never, ever let go again.

"You deserve all the best things, Riku. Because you are the best! You are worth everything there is. I’m so happy that I got you back. And I’m happy that you came for me! To get me back too! See, it’s the same thing. So, don’t worry anymore, okay?"

"…I don’t really have a choice there, do I?", Riku chuckled.

"No, you don’t!", Sora replied energetically as always, and leaned back a bit to look into Riku’s eyes. "So cheer up now, yes? Better yet let’s go out, you show me how to become Master! Don’t forget that I’ll need to train with you! Come on!"

He stood up and almost forcefully pulled Riku up too who couldn’t help but be somewhat disappointed that the moment didn’t last longer. He sighed and nodded.  
"Okay, okay."

Almost simultaneously, they started laughing and Riku recalled what he had thought earlier. So radiant, so bright, like a sun, he wanted to always be surrounded by Sora’s light. He wanted to be saved by his shining knight whenever he felt like he couldn’t push through. And he knew for sure, that he would be.


End file.
